Sutherland council election, 2024

Sutherland Shire covers parts of southern Sydney, bordered by the Georges River on the north and west, the Pacific Ocean on the east and the Royal National Park (and the border with the City of Wollongong) on the south.

Sutherland has a population of about 232,000 people, as of 2022.

• Wards
• Redistribution
• Incumbent councillors
• History
• Council control
• Candidate summary
• Assessment
• 2021 results
• Vote breakdown by ward
• Results maps

Wards
Sutherland is divided up into five wards, with each ward electing three councillors.

The five wards are named with letters from A to E.

A Ward covers the entire Pacific Ocean coastline, including the Kurnell peninsula and the suburbs of Cronulla, Woolooware, Port Hacking, Bundeena, Maianbar and part of Lilli Pilli. This ward also covers most of the Royal National Park, with its western border close to Waterfall and Heathcote.

B Ward covers the centre of the council, including the suburbs of Gymea, Miranda, Kirrawee, Yowie Bay, Gymea Bay and Grays Point, along with parts of Lilli Pilli and Caringbah South.

C Ward covers suburbs on the south side of the Georges River including Sylvania, Sylvania Waters, Caringbah, Oyster Bay and Kareela.

D Ward covers the Sutherland city centre and suburbs in the southwest of the shire, including Waterfall, Heathcote, Engadine, Yarrawarrah and Woronora Heights.

E Ward covers the western edge of the council, including a number of suburbs along the Georges River. Suburbs in E Ward include Menai, Alfords Point, Bangor, Illawong, Como, Bonnett Bay, Woronora and Barden Ridge.

Incumbent councillors

¹Carmelo Pesce and Carol Provan resigned from the Liberal Party in August 2024 after losing preselection.

History
Sutherland Shire has oscillated back and forth over recent decades between being controlled by an alliance of Labor and independents and being controlled by the Liberal Party.

In the council term from 1999 until 2004, Sutherland Shire was governed by an alliance of Labor and Shire Watch, a centre-left local independent alliance.

Labor’s Ken McDonnell served as mayor from 1999 until 2000, then Shire Watch’s Tracie Sonda held the mayoralty from 2000 until 2002, when she was succeeded by Labor’s Phil Blight.

The Liberal Party improved its position at the 2004 election, winning seven seats. Labor won three seats and Shire Watch won four, with the last going to conservative independent Marie Simone.

Liberal councillors David Redmond and Kevin Schreiber each served as Mayor during the 2004-2008 term: Redmond from 2004 to 2006 and Schreiber from 2006 until the 2008 election.

The Liberal team did not run as party members in 2008, and instead all contested the election as independents. Four Liberals won seats in Sutherland Shire, along with friendly independent Craig McCallum. George Capsis’ Community First team won another two seats, but Labor and Shire Watch won a majority, with five Shire Watch councillors and three Labor councillors.

Shire Watch’s Lorraine Kelly held the mayoralty from 2008 until 2010, when it was handed back to Labor’s Phil Blight.

The Shire Watch/Labor alliance broke down before the 2011 mayoral election, with Shire Watch councillor Carol Provan leaving the group and allying with the Liberal councillors, who helped elect her as mayor.

Shire Watch was devastated at the 2012 election. The Liberal Party won nine out of fifteen seats. Labor held their three seats, and only one Shire Watch councillor (Peter Towell) was re-elected. Two other independents were re-elected. Carol Provan, who had split with Shire Watch and was mayor at the time of the election, was re-elected as an independent. Councillor Bruce Walton, who had won a by-election in D Ward in 2010 on the conservative independent ticket of Craig McCallum, was re-elected while McCallum was defeated.

Sutherland swung back to the middle in 2016. Shire Watch was wiped out, with both major parties winning seven seats each. The final seat was won by independent Steve Simpson, who had been elected as a Liberal councillor in 2012.

The first mayoral election was a 7-7 tie, with Liberal councillor Pesce winning the tiebreaker. The same breakdown occured in the deputy mayoral election, but Labor’s Scaysbrook won the tiebreaker. A Labor councillor had been missing, and the independent had voted for the Labor candidate on both ballots.

Simpson allied with the Liberals in 2018, allowing Pesce to win 8-7, and the Liberals then supported Simpson for deputy mayor, winning 8-7.

Simpson switched sides to ally with Labor in 2020. Labor councillors supported Simpson for mayor, and he supported Labor’s Forshaw for deputy mayor.

The 2021 council election saw the Liberal Party regain their majority, winning eight seats to five for Labor. Two independents were also elected.

Liberal councillor Carmelo Pesce returned to the mayoralty in January 2022, along with Carol Provan as deputy mayor. They were both elected by a 9-6 margin, with independent Laura Cowell supporting the Liberal candidates.

Council control
The Liberal Party has a clear majority on the council, and has won each leadership election in the current term by a 9-6 margin.

Candidate summary
Sitting Labor councillors Greg Mclean and Peter Scaysbrook and sitting Liberal councillors Hassan Awada, Kent Johns and Louise Sullivan are not running for re-election.

Sitting councillors Carmelo Pesce and Carol Provan were both refused Liberal Party preselection which has led to them resigning from the party. Provan is running for re-election in A Ward and Pesce has switched from D Ward to C Ward.

The Labor and Liberal parties are running in every ward.

The Animal Justice Party is also running in A Ward, and the Libertarian Party is running in C Ward.

In addition to Pesce and Provan, sitting independent councillors Leanne Farmer and Laura Cowell are running for re-election.

Five other independent groups are running over a number of wards.

Assessment
Sutherland is a strong area for the Liberal Party, but achieving eight seats is always a difficult objective, since it requires a party to win two out of three seats in three different wards. There is also a long tradition of independent and Labor councillors stitching together alternative majorities. Pesce and Provan are both running in wards where the Liberal Party won two seats in 2021. If they win seats off their former party, the Liberals won’t be able to win a majority.

2021 results

Vote breakdown by ward
The following table shows the vote in each ward.

The Liberal Party topped the primary vote in all five wards, ranging from 40.3% in D Ward to 46.9% in A Ward.

Labor’s primary vote ranged from 16.2% in A Ward to 43.1% in D Ward. Almost 10% of the vote in A Ward went to the only Greens candidates to contest the Sutherland election, which partly explains the depressed Labor vote.

The vote for independent candidates ranged from 16.6% in D Ward to 27.7% in A Ward.

Election results at the 2021 Sutherland Shire election
Toggle between primary votes for the Liberal Party, Labor, the Greens and independent candidates Laura Cowell, Pam Brown, Tony Robins, Leanne Farmer and Dominique Passmore.

Candidates – A Ward

• A – Independent
  1. Cr Carol Provan
  2. Ross Howie
  3. Julie Muir
• B – Animal Justice
  1. Dianne Becker
  2. Gavin Conibeer
  3. Natasha Brown
• C – Labor
  1. Jeremy Gadsden
  2. Sienna Forrest
  3. Norbert Schaeper
• D – Liberal
  1. Cr Marcelle Elzerman
  2. Daniel Rindfleish
  3. Nicholas Mickovski
• E – Independent
  1. Kal Glanznig
  2. Patch Clunes
  3. Mark Aprilovic
• F – Independent
  1. Cr Leanne Farmer
  2. Brielle Streater
  3. Robert Green

Candidates – B Ward

• A – Greens
  1. Martin Moore
  2. Angus Dyson
  3. Sylvia Speranza
• B – Liberal
  1. Melanie Gibbons
  2. Joanne Nicholls
  3. Princess Kristo
• C – Labor
  1. Cr Jack Boyd
  2. Rosemary Maker
  3. Jeremy Ison
• D – Independent
  1. Allira Wade
  2. Lorna Genoud
  3. William Beukes

Candidates – C Ward

• A – Libertarian
  1. Gaye Cameron
  2. Mark Preston
  3. Kathryn Rikkerink
• B – Labor
  1. Cr Jen Armstrong
  2. Amadene Edwards
  3. Graeme Paterson
• C – Independent
  1. Cr Carmelo Pesce
  2. John Mannah
  3. David Brownhill
• D – Liberal
  1. Cr Haris Strangas
  2. Kyriakos Panayi
  3. Diane McInerney

Candidates – D Ward

• A – Labor
  1. Cr Diedree Steinwall
  2. Peter Tsambalas
  3. Hayden Sloggett
• B – Independent
  1. Mark Christie
  2. Robert Jenkins
  3. Robert Sheargold
• C – Liberal
  1. Meredith Laverty
  2. Troy Loveday
  3. Daniel Padman
• D – Independent
  1. Dominique Passmore
  2. Tania Clynch
  3. Anne Passmore
• E – Independent
  1. Brady Clarke
  2. James Hankins
  3. Dennis Bartolotta

Candidates – E Ward

• A – Labor
  1. Mick Maroney
  2. Jennifer McDonald
  3. Nathan McMillan
• B – Liberal
  1. Cr Stephen Nikolovski
  2. Dolores Gonsalves
  3. James Young
• C – Independent
  1. Cr Laura Cowell
  2. Emma Jeffery
  3. Matthew Brady

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